


The Anomaly

by NarnianHobbit



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: F/M, The Fever Code Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 19:38:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15080264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NarnianHobbit/pseuds/NarnianHobbit
Summary: Aris knew the stakes when he began working for WICKED. And it cost him his best friend.





	1. Chapter 1

 

 Chapter One

~*~

He began his new life in a strange facility that insists he is going to help them change the world one day.

W.I.C.K.E.D.

That was their name. They were helping people find a cure for the Flare. He didn't know what that was. But whatever it is, it couldn't be a good thing.

They told him that his name is Aris.

It isn't. It couldn't be. He's sure of it.

He couldn't remember his old name. He couldn't remember his family. He remembers being taken away from them. Why did they take him away?

Aris.

It isn't a horrible name. But, it isn't great either. WICKED are people he shouldn't mess with. So he keeps his mouth shut and says that he likes his new name when he doesn't. They were adamant about him remembering that name and he didn't know why.

They kept telling each other "W.I.C.K.E.D is good" as they passed by one another in the halls as if to reassure themselves that they weren't bad. He isn't too sure. He can remember watching a movie with a green woman called "the wicked witch of the west" and she wasn't good. When has "wicked" ever been a good thing?

The door to his room opens and two guards wearing gray uniforms burst through with a man who held a clipboard in his hands and wore a white lab coat.

"Are you Aris?" He asks. He doesn't even look up from his clipboard.

"Yes," Aris answers back hesitantly. He winces at the roughness in his voice. He hasn't spoken to anyone in a long time.

"Excellent, let's get started, shall we?" the man says. He nods to the two guards and they shut the door behind him, leaving Aris completely alone with the guy. Aris stiffens as he takes a seat. "My name's Janson, I'm the director of this facility. Do you know why you're here?"

"To help change the world?" Aris says hesitantly. He doesn't know their true goals. They couldn't be all bad if they were helping people, could they?

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"Telling you," Aris says. He doesn't like the man's condescending tone.

Janson grins smugly from behind the clipboard. Aris desperately wants to punch the man in the face but holds himself back in fear of getting in trouble.

"You're only half right," Janson says. "Alright, everything seems to be in order. Come with me."

"Why?"

"We're moving you to a new room today."

As he walks with them, he catches a glimpse of a girl with red hair at the end of the hallway. They stare at each other for a few moments before she disappears into another room.

"Come along, Aris," the man calls to him.

"Wait, wait! Why can't I talk to her?" He shouts. "Why won't you people let me talk to anybody?"

Janson only smirks in reply. Aris hates his smile. There's something off about it. He couldn't be trusted.

"Welcome to your new home, Aris," Janson says and shuts the door behind him.

Aris stands there awkwardly. It looks like the same room from before. Except this door didn't have a lock keeping him inside.

There were too many guards around. He sighs and decides to take a seat on the bed. Silence isn't too bad but it have him too much time with his thoughts.

And, eventually, he got tired of looking at the same metal walls. He got tired of being alone in a room with only his thoughts for company. He got sick of people always looking down on him just because he was younger.

A sudden noise from the hallway interrupts his thoughts.

He hears the doors from the other room burst open with a soft hiss. The girl. It's the re haired girl from before. He jumps up from his bed, heart pounding wildly, and opens his own door. It isn't locked like before. That couldn't be a coincidence. Were they finally going to listen to his pleads? We're they finally going to let him talk to somebody?

Her back is turned as she stares down the hallway. What is she doing? She whirls around and gasps when she sees him standing there.

"Hey, it's okay," he whispers to her. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just...I just want to talk."

She stares at him curiously and leans in closer as if to get a better look at him.

"Jayne."

She said it so quietly that he thought he imagined it.

"What?"

"My name's Jayne," she says loud enough so that he can hear.

"Hi, Jayne," he smiles at her. She looks at him curiously. "I'm Aris. Looks like we're going to be next door neighbors."

She glances back at the two doors that were across from each other.

"You're the first person I've talked to in a long time," she says quietly. She sits against the wall and he mimics her movement, crossing his legs together and wrapping his arms around his knees.

"Same here," he says. "they wouldn't let me talk to anyone."

"Do you know why?" She asks.

He shakes his head, "wish I knew," he answers. "They're really good at keeping secrets."

She nods in agreement.

"Weren't you scared when they brought you here?"

"I was ...for a little while," he admits softly. "I didn't know what they wanted from me. Why they took me away from..."

"They told me that I couldn't get sick," she says after a short silence. "Maybe that's why you're here too. Because you can't get sick."

But weren't hospitals supposed to be for sick people? He frowns at the thought. If he wasn't sick, why would they need him for?

He glances over at his new room in dismay, "I don't want to go back."

Her grin fades as she follows his gaze, "I don't like it either. Do you think we can meet again later so we don't have to stay in them for very long?"

"Yeah...yeah, we can meet again later!" He agrees instantly with a small smile.

It's silly. Their rooms were right across from one another and he still didn't want to go back.

"It's nice meeting you, Aris," she smiles. The first smile he's seen on her since they met.

"Same to you, Jayne."

A friend. His first real friend since he came there. Maybe W.I.C.K.E.D isn't so bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Soon enough, meeting with Jayne became part of his daily routine. They'd complain about the little things: about not being comfortable alone, about not eating enough, about the hard classes the Creators made them take. He struggles the most with math. Numbers and letters together made his eyes hurt. But, eventually, he'd solve them with no problem. 

 

As long as he got to see her at the end of the day, going through the boring stuff made it all worth it. 

 

He notices that she sometimes space out in the middle of their conversations. And she'd be gone for  long periods of time. He always asks her where she went to but she never answers his question. It couldn't be to class because those were in the morning. 

 

Whenever they did finally get together, she always manage to steal something from the Creators. Silly stuff like pens and paper so that they could draw. He warns her not to steal from them so much, in fear of what would happen to her, if they got caught. But they would have such a great time, he eventually forgot his worries. Her drawings would always turn out a bit better than his and he would always swear that he'd catch up to her one day.   

 

"Hey, Aris?" She asks when they finally have time to see each other. He hums in reply. "If I'm Jayne...does that make you Tarzan?"

 

He vaguely remembers Tarzan. Wasn't he a person who lived with gorillas? 

 

He does his best to mimic the Tarzan yell and she giggles when he hits his chest like a gorilla. He smiles. Whatever had made her sad earlier seems to be forgotten now.

 

"Hey, Aris?" She asks when her giggles die down.  "Do you think they're ever gonna let us out of this place? Let us see our family again?"

 

His smile vanishes as he thinks of his family. He can barely remember them. How can he remember something silly like Tarzan but not remember his own family? He suddenly wants to throw up the sandwhich he ate hours ago. 

 

"I hope so," Aris says. "I mean, 'WICKED' is good, right? Maybe they will let us one day."

 

"I hope so," she repeats quietly. "Hey, Aris? You're not ever gonna forget me, right? You won't go away? Even if you're forced to?"

 

"Nah, you're stuck with me just like Tarzan and Jane," he tells her with a smile. 

 

Her face lights up as her smile comes back, "Really?" 

  
"Really, really!"

His breath is taken away as soon as she wraps her arms around him. 

 

"Thank you...for being my friend."

 

"Thank you for being mine," he hugs her back awkwardly. When was the last time he even recieved a hug? "Are you alright? You're acting weird today." 

 

"Sorry, I'm acting so weird," she says with an embarrassed chuckle. 

 

"No, it's okay, as long as you don't make me do the yell again," Aris grins.

 

"Aw, but the yell's funny," she pouts.

 

"Nope, don't even do that," he pokes her cheek as soon as she does the puppy eyes. "It won't work on me." 

 

She sticks her tongue out at him. He mimics her. 

 

"Get some sleep, ya weirdo." 

 

She laughs and whirls around but freezes as soon as she sees the door. 

 

"Jayne?" He calls out to her softly. 

 

She jumps at his voice and stares at him with wide eyes. His breath hitches. It's like she almost didn't recognize him for a second. 

 

"S-sorry," she says. "Night, Tarzan."

 

He rolls his eyes, smiling a little at the nickname, "Night, Jayne." 

 

It's been a week. 

 

A whole week since he last saw her. 

 

One week too many. He notices her sneaking into the room late at night. Was she avoiding him? Did he do something wrong? His heart pounds faster at the thought. What did he do wrong? 

 

He jumps at the soft knocking on his door.

 

"Aris?" a soft voice comes from the other side. "Aris, are you there?" 

 

He immediately jumps out of bed and opens the door. Sure enough, Jayne's standing there, smiling sheepishly but her brown eyes are tired and are puffy and red as if she'd been...as if she'd been crying. He throws his arms around her without a moment's hesitation. 

 

"Where have you been?" Aris demands. 

 

"I can't ...I can't say...or else they'd .." She says.

 

"They'd what?" Aris asks with a frown. "Jayne, what's going on?" 

 

She drags him out into the hallway and looks both ways as if she were expecting people to come out at any minute. 

 

"Aris, I'm sorry," she says. "for not telling you everything." 

 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Aris' frown deepens. "Jayne, what's going on?" 

 

And before he can ask her what's wrong, guards burst through the double doors at the end of the hallway.

 

"What are you doing?" He asks them. They ignore him. 

 

"Check them," a guard demands. 

 

One steps forward, forces him onto his knees, and scans Aris' neck. A loud beep makes the two kids jump. What were they doing? Why did they need to check his neck? 

 

"Subject B1," the other confirms. 

 

"Take him to Janson for experimentation," the first one says. 

 

He catches a glimpse of Jayne when they do the same to her. He calls out her name softly. She glances over at him with tears in her eyes. 

 

Jayne's fingers slip away from his as the guards took her away. 

 

"No! Wait! What are you doing? Where are you taking her? _Jayne_!" He calls for her.

 

But it's too late. 

 

She's already out of his sight as the guards take him away. He doesn't try to resist. They're stronger than he is. He's brought into a room with a huge glass door separating him and the people in white lab coats on the other side. There were a bunch of computers and small blue words floating in midair on a glass screen. 

 

It's _him._ The same man who got on his nerves. It took everything in him not to punch the man taking a seat across from him. 

 

"So we meet again, Tarzan," Janson mocks. 

 

  
Aris' blood runs cold at the mention of his nickname. 

 

They _knew._


	3. Chapter 3

He hears a chilling scream from the other room. He freezes, looking the director right in the eye who's watching his movement like a hawk. He has the urge to go see what was happening in the other room. To see what they were doing to her.

 

"Let her go!" He bellows.  

 

They only stare at him with amusement. How could they think that was funny? Did they get some sort of sick pleasure from watching little kids suffer? 

 

"She's lucky she didn't get a harsher punishment for stealing," Janson says. He doesn't even look up from the book he's reading. "Actually, you're both lucky that we need you for our experiment." 

 

Aris's breath catches in his throat, "What experiment?" 

 

What could they possibly need him for? He didn't even know how he could help them. 

 

"We're going to implant something in your mind," Janson responds as he turns a page. "A tracker, of sorts. To help us see your brain activity. No one's died from it...yet." 

 

That somehow didn't make him feel any better. 

 

"Alright, are you ready, Aris?" 

 

What would happen if he said no? Would they kill him? They wouldn't really kill a kid, would they?

 

He hears another scream from the room next to him. 

 

"You have to promise she'll be okay," his voice shakes and he tries his best to look intimidating. 

 

But the nurse merely laughs at him, "She's going to be okay," she hesitates. He didn't believe her. When he doesn't follow her, she sighs exasperatedly, "Aris, the sooner we get this done, the sooner you can see her." 

 

More lies. 

  
He follows her anyway. He doesn't want to get on anyone's bad side.

They make him sit on a long chair like bed with a bright yellow light above his head that makes his eyes hurt. He winces, blinking several times to adjust to it, and holds in his breath as they stick a needle deep in his arm. He kept staring ahead so that he wouldn't see the blood come out from the strange little tube. 

 

"It might sting a little," she gives him an apologetic look. 

 

It didn't hurt...at first. Not until whatever liquid travels up his arm, towards his neck. He finds himself slowly drifting away. Oddly enough, he could still hear the doctors whispering to one another. Something's crawling in his brain. He has the urge to itch it. It didn't belong there. He has to take it out. 

 

He catches snippets of a conversation nearby. Someone curses and says he's waking up too soon. Something went wrong. He feels a prick in his arm and then...nothing. The noises have stopped and so has the itching.

 

In his sleep, he swears he hears Jayne's voice calling for him. And it wakes him up.

 

He shot up from the bed, breathing heavily. Sweat falls onto his brow and he tries to lift his arm but it's hooked to wires.

 

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Aris," the nurse says, smiling. "How are you feeling?" 

 

He glares at her and winces at the pounding in his head.

 

"You're going to be feeling weird for the next few days," she tells him. "but you'll be as good as new in no time. You're reacting really well to it." 

 

That's good and all but her voice sounded too loud in his ears. He winces.

 

It isn't long before until he's back to normal that he goes back to his regular schedule classes. They made him busy but that didn't stop him from worrying about Jayne. He caught a conversation once about a few kids dying from the implants. He didn't want it to be true. He had to keep hoping. So he kept asking about her even though he knew they wouldn't give him a straight answer.

 

One night his headache got so unbearable that he couldn't sleep. An unbearable itch that he can't scratch. And a buzzing noise in his ears. 

 

_Aris?_

 

He shot up from his bed and whirls around to see who called his name...but there's no one around. Was he finally going crazy from being alone too long? 

 

_Aris?_ It's faint in his ears but at the same time sounded so close by. Like someone is in the room with him.

 

_Aris, can you_ _hear_ _me?_

 

"I can hear you," he calls out hesitantly. 

 

No answer. 

 

_Aris?_ _It's_ _me!_

 

_Jayne?_ He thinks instead of saying out loud. 

 

His mind felt like it was running a marathon. And his heart beats just as fast. 

 

_You answered!_ She exclaims excitedly. _They said they would do the_ _same_ _thing to you but_ _I_ _didn't_ _believe them!_

 

_Not all at once!_ He winces as his head pounds once more. She whispers an apology which he responds to right away, telling her that it's alright. He just didn't expect to hear her voice.

 

_Jayne,_ _where_ _are_ _you_ _?_ He interrupts her. _Are you_ _alright_ _?_

 

_I'm_ _fine,_ she says more softly. 

 

_What's_ _going on?_ He asks. _What did they do to my head?_ _What did they do to you?_

 

_Calm down, Tarzan,_ she laughs. _you're_ _asking too many_ _questions_ _!_

 

_Sorry,_ he relaxes when he hears her laugh, letting out a breathy chuckle.

 

It's so good to hear her again. Hearing the all too familiar nickname brought a smile to his face. 

 

_It's_ _weird,_ _isn't_ _it?_ She asks. _Being able to hear each other in our heads?_

 

_Yeah,_ he answers back. _It's like we're in a sci fi novel or something._

 

Jayne laughs. The sound is much more welcoming than the nurses.

 

_Do_ _you_ _think_ _they could be listening to us_ _right_ _now?_

 

_Yes,_ she replies. _without any doubt._

 

_Yeah,_ _I_ _figured,_ he sighs. _They're_ _creepy like that._

 

_You_ _shouldn't_ _say that!_ But he hears her giggling.

 

_It's_ _true though!_

 

_Seriously though,_ _how_ _are you feeling?_ She asks with concern. 

 

_They told me you almost died from it,_ she says softly. 

 

_Well,_ _I'm_ _okay now,_ he reassures her. _I'm_ _too_ _stubborn_ _to die_ _like_ _that._

 

_Aris...._

 

_Jayne,_ he mocks her playfully. 

 

_Aris_ _, quit it!_ _I'm_ _not joking,_ _I_ _was really_ _worried!_

 

He jumps when she shouts at him. She never shouts at him. So he apologizes. She doesn't answer back. He sits up in bed and tenses as he calls for her.

 

_They said,_ she hesitates, _they said we wont be_ _able_ _to see each other for a long time._ _They're_ _moving me somewhere._

 

His heart sinks. Not being able to see her for a long time? He wouldn't be able to handle it. 

 

_Do you think_ _it's_ _true?_ Aris asks. _What_ _they_ _said about those kids dying?_

 

_I_ _don't_ _know,_ she says softly. _I'm_ _..._ _I'm_ _going to try and get_ _some_ _sleep_ _. Big day full of_ _boring_ _classes to look forward_ _to_ _, you know?_

 

Aris laughs. She isn't wrong. Learning the same stuff every day did get boring. 

 

_G'night_ _, Tarzan._

 

_G'night,_ he replies. And their connection is cut off before he can say anything more. 

 

Sure, she sounded okay but there was something else. She's keeping something from him. 

 

He didn't get any sleep that night. 


End file.
